How I say I Love You
by stripesthetiger11
Summary: It's Splendid's birthday and he isn't looking forward to much, but Stripes has a much different plan... Borrowing two OCs. Don't like, don't read.


**Hey guys! Another one shot! And I'm using a couple OCs that I borrowed with, once again, permission. Hope you like it. Oh, and I hid a reference to a cartoon in this story. See if you can find it.**

Splendid's eyes fluttered open as the light from his window showered onto his light blue fur and blankets. He sighed, which he does every start of a new day.

_Here we go again_… Splendid thought. _Another day of saving animals that will still die soon after or don't even want to be saved_. Splendid did this every day, and frankly, he was tired of it. What didn't help the fact was that it was his birthday. In reality, Splendid was not really young and not really old, but still looked twenty-one. In this town, aging wasn't possible because of the golden cursed idol. Despite that, Splendid just like to call himself twenty-one, so he could still date.

Splendid was pretty sure that no one in this town even remember his birthday. No one cared for him that much. They'd just probably treat him like they always do.

Splendid sighed once again and turned over in his bed, and came face to face with an orange tiger with black stripes and a light brown ranger hat sitting lazily on her head.

"Are you ready for more, big boy?" Stripes asked seductively, also giving Splendid quite a shock. "OH MY GOD!" Splendid shouted and jumped out of bed. Stripes started cracking up as if Splendid had told a hilarious joke.

"How did you get into my bed- no, my house?" the hero shouted, making Stripes laugh even more. "Oh, you know. Climbed," is all Stripes answered. Splendid was confused, seeing how his home was a giant metal acorn held up in the sky. Stripes got out of bed, fixed her hat posture, and started walking past Splendid.

"Hey, did we really… you know," Splendid trailed off, uneasy. "I dunno, did we?" Stripes asked, putting both hands on her hips and leaning against the wall. Splendid's eyes widened and he started blushing, but Stripes just laughed and ruffled up the fur on top of his head.

"It's okay big guy, you didn't get any… yet," Stripes smiled and walked out of the room. "Oh, and happy birthday," Stripes added. Splendid smiled to himself. At least someone remembered, and boy, did she give him a birthday surprise. A weird and strange surprise, but pleasant to know that he was loved by someone.

You could say that the tiger and the super squirrel were dating, but Stripes never really hung out with him, say that they were together, or even once say the words "I love you." So Splendid never did the same, not really wanting to bring it up either. He liked Stripes, for some unexplainable reason, but never really had the courage to do what Stripes never did.

"Hey, don't think too much or else your breakfast will get cold!" Stripes shouted form the dining room. "Breakfast?" Splendid whispered to himself. Without a second to waste, the super squirrel used his super speed to dash into the same room the tigress was in. And then his jaw dropped.

On his dinner table was a feast that could feed half the town. There was an assortment of foods. There was eggs, bacon, ham, nuts, some weird green stuff, and much more. "Stripes… did you do this?" Splendid asked, clearly amazed. "Yep, you know it," Stripes said. "I made all of this overnight and yet I still had enough time to crawl into your bed just four minutes before you woke up." Splendid sat down and stared at the mass of food while Stripes stood beside him.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Christmas? Eat!" Stripes shouted. Splendid took a spoonful of eggs and slowly raised it to his mouth. Unfortunately, that was too slow for Stripes. "Oh god Splendid, I didn't poison it! Eat it!" Stripes yelled, took the spoon, and shoved the eggs into the squirrel's mouth. Splendid, not wanting to anger the tiger any further, started chewing and swallowing. His eyes widened once again in surprise once again.

"Holy crap, Stripes! This is amazing!" Splendid exclaimed. Stripes blushed and smiled before sitting down herself. While Splendid was scarfing down the food, Stripes was smiling to herself.

The others shouldn't be done until the afternoon, so she should just keep him busy until then. After that, she would bring him back here for a surprise. "So, it's your birthday. Where do you wanna go?" Stripes asked. Splendid though for a minute. "I don't know. Around this time, I usually go on patrol," he said. "Screw patrol. It's your birthday. You can do anything you want!" Stripes exclaimed.

"Well, I wanted to go into town to see how everything is in there," Splendid responded. Stripes' ear twitched, not too thrilled about the idea, but she kept the smile on her face. "Sure!" She exclaimed. "Let's go!"

Splendid finished what was on his plate before putting on his superhero mask, turning off the lights and getting dragged out of the house by Stripes. It was only a few second of silence until a voice in the shadows spoke up.

"Is he gone yet?" One voice asked. "Yar, I think the lad is," another voice said. The lights switched on to reveal Russell, Mirrors, Samiee, and Flippy standing in the middle of the room.

Mirrors was a panther with some strange colors. The front half of her body was white and the oval on her stomach was a light gray, while her back, tail and all, was also light gray. Her packman pupils were a creepy light blue instead of a regular coal black. The only reason she was here because Russell was doing it, but she never told anyone.

The only reason Russell was here was because Stripes was a really good friends of his, and he would definitely help her with something like this, although it wasn't his specialty. It was also funny to see how thrilled he was when he saw that Mirrors was in this, too. Flippy was also here because he really wanted to get to know Splendid, and plus Samiee was here.

Samiee was an orange fox with the tips of his paws, ears, and tail white. He wore a black scarf, a coal newsboy hat, and he had British style glasses. Samiee was here because so many people were helping, so he decided to join in as well.

These four were in charge of getting the house ready while Stripes and Splendid were out. "They could've at least cleaned up first!" Samiee said while cleaning off the table while Flippy assisted him. Mirrors and Russell started pushing the furniture to make some room, but when Mirrors accidently into the otter, she apologized while the pirate was left blushing.

"So, where should we start first?" Samiee asked.

_In Town_

"C'mon, bro!" Shifty exclaimed to his little brother, although he was only six minutes younger. "God, how did we even get in this situation?" Lifty asked.

Shifty sighed as they walked into the store. "Well, Stripes is paying you fifty bucks, and I really don't want my face punched in," the older raccoon said. "Eh, might as well do it if we're- I mean I'm getting paid," Lifty said also correcting himself. Also behind them was Blink and Link.

Blink and Link was also twins, but they were both wolves. They had snow white fur and red eyes. No pupils, no irises, just red. Unlike the raccoon twins, they wore nothing to tell each other apart. You only knew who was who because Blink was a girl with eyelashes and was mute, while Link was a male with a working voice box. Blink also seemed to never blink, which is why she always won in staring contests. They gladly agreed to be a part of Stripes' plan, since Splendid was like a big brother to them. Although Link hated Shifty with all his heart and hated the idea of the raccoon touching his sister, he agreed to go with them because he was best friends with Lifty and it made Blink happy to be around Shifty.

Right now, these four were getting the decorations Stripes ordered. She pre ordered them, so they didn't have to pay for it. They walked into the store and everyone, but Blink, sighed. It was Lumpy who was at the counter.

Lumpy gave them a confused glance before going back to staring off into space. "Hey Lumpy, you have the decorations Stripes ordered?" Shifty asked. "Decorations? This is the meat market, sillies!" Lumpy exclaimed, making Lifty and Link face palm. "Why are you hitting yourselves?" Lumpy asked confused, which was no surprise.

Blink surprisingly took charge. She jumped on the counter, pushed Lumpy out of the way, and then disappeared behind the counter. She soon came back up with a bag of decorations.

"Alright, Blink!" Shifty shouted and patted her on the back while getting a nasty look from Link. They all left at once through the door, only to bump into Splendid.

The squirrel gave the four an evil look, especially Lifty and Shifty. "What are you doing?" Splendid asked. "What? We can't go to the store?" Lifty asked. "I suppose not. Let me see what's in your bag," the hero said and held his hand out expectantly. Shifty looked at the bag in his hand and hid it behind his back.  
"What bag?" he asked, eyes Stripes in the background.

"You know what I mean!" Splendid scolded, not noticing that the one he was interrogating was making eye contact with Stripes. The tiger started to panic, but soon stopped when she remembered what to do in this situation.

Stripes started jumping up and down like Nutty on sugar mixed crack, knowing that someone was watching her, not counting the staring Giggles right behind her.

_About Fifty Yards from Stripes in the Forest_

Splendont saw Stripes jumping up and down, which meant that Splendid must've seen Lifty and the others. He hovered down from the trees and landed on the soft grass, and turning to face Sub Zero.

Sub Zero was an eighteen year old light blue bear with no pupils. Even on the hottest of all days, Sub Zero wore a brown Eskimo jacket, red mittens, a red scarf covering his mouth, blue snow cap, and brown furry boots. He was shunned by a lot of members of the town because he couldn't control his ice powers. Everything he touched turned to ice. His only real friend was Cro Marmot, since Sub could translate anything the block of ice was saying.

"That's the signal! Are you ready?" Splendont whispered. Sub smiled under his scarf and nodded excitedly. Splendont had actually given up being a super villain a long time ago, but never told Splendid that because he liked to toy with him. Sub was Splendid's number one fan, despite him killing everyone. Sub also became Splendont's fan after he turned good, and they even hung out and talked together quite a bit. Their job was to keep Splendid distracted long enough for Shifty and the other to escape.

Sub Zero cleared his throat and suddenly started screaming. "Get away from me! Let go!" Sub shouted, a surprisingly good actor. Splendont put on his best evil face and grabbed Sub by the hood of his jacket, careful not to touch his skin and freeze, and started dragging across the frozen grass. "You're coming with me!" Splendont also shouted, but not as convincing as the show Sub was putting on.

Before you can say "onion ring hula-hoops," Splendid arrived to stop the non-existing crime. "Put the bear down, you fiend!" Splendid shouted. It took all of Splendont's super strength just to keep himself from laughing and to keep his voice straight. "Make me!"

Splendont was soon delivered an unexpected blow to the face. The red squirrel slammed into a nearby tree, still clutching Sub Zero in his paws. "Um Splendont," Sub whispered to him, pointing to his jacket. "Huh? Oh, sorry." Splendont let go of the bear's coat, making him fall to the ground. So much for just an act.

_Back to Town_

"Thanks Stripes!" Link yelled while he, Blink, Shifty, and Lifty ran back to Splendid's place. Sniffles watched Stripes smile to herself and stand there, rocking back and forth patiently.

Sniffles walked back into Muffin's Bakery and joined Toothy at the counter. Muffin herself came up with a box. Muffin was a maroon fox with a mauve shirt that depicted a chocolate chip muffin. Shifty still thinks it's raisins in the muffin, but no one has time to argue over that. Muffin also wore a cookie pin on her right ear. I think it looked cute on her.

"This is the only time I'm doing this, just because it's his birthday!" Muffin said sternly, handing the box to Toothy. He flipped the cover off to reveal a blue and light blue frosted cake with "Happy Birthday Splendid" written on top in red icing. "Thanks Muffin," Sniffles said politely. All three of us then walked out. "You're coming?" Toothy asked. "Hey, I don't want to be the only one left out of the party!" she exclaimed. Sniffles smiled and patted her on the back. And then they walked away.

Stripes smiled as she saw them leave with the cake. Great, now all they had to do was wait about an hour and then lead Splendid back to his place. All of the sudden, Splendid flew back down and landed on the concrete. "Well, that's done," Splendid said. "How about we go back to my place? I'm tired already!"

Stripes began to panic again. "Um, how about we stay here for another hour or so?" Stripes asked, trying not to sound too desperate. Splendid's frowned. "What's up with you today? I know it's my birthday, but you're acting like you have a dirty little secret to hide!"

Splendid walked past Stripes and got ready to take off. Stripes, really desperate, did the first thing that came to her mind. "Hey Splendid," she said, sounding desperate. "Yeah?" Splendid asked, turning to look at the tigress. "Happy birthday," Stripes said, grabbing Splendid by the chest and pulled him into a kiss.

Time seemed to stop around them. Splendid's eyes widened for a second, but soon leaned into the kiss. He gently touched Stripes face with his paw. Then they broke apart. Stripes smiled and rocked back and forth while Splendid just stared at her. "Okay," Splendid said, still a bit shocked from what just happened. "I guess we can here for another hour." Stripes smiled and led him into another store to look at things.

When an hour passed, Stripes allowed Splendid to take them back to his place. Once they got back, Splendid opened his door to see nothing but pitch black. He turned on the lights only to see animals jumping out from behind his furniture.

"SURPRISE!" is what they all shouted, also scaring living crap out of Splendid. So many of the Tree friends were there. There was Splendont, Russell, Mirrors, Samiee, Sub Zero, Sniffles, Flippy, Toothy, Lifty, Shifty, Blink, Link, and even Muffin.

"W-what's going on?" Splendid gasped, still confused. "Well, hmm. Your house is decorated, there's a cake on the table, and people are jumping from furniture and yelling 'surprise.' Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is a surprise party!" Samiee said.

Splendid still looked shocked, but a smile soon came to his face. "You guys remembered!" he exclaimed. "And you guys threw me a birthday party!" Russell stepped up and shook his head. "Yar, lad. It wasn't us. It was the lassie here," the pirate said and pointed to Stripes. "Really? You really did this just for me?" Splendid asked the tigress.

"Oh yeah," Sub Zero said. "She planned it all out! The breakfast, Shifty and the others getting decorations, Toothy and Sniffles getting the cake, and even my fake attack!" Splendid blushed and gave Splendont and apologetic look. The red squirrel nodded in forgiveness.

"It was nothin'," Stripes blushed. "Nothing? Stripes, this is great! Thank you so much!" Splendid said, hugging Stripes. The tigress began to grow even redder.

They celebrated, ate cake, sung "Happy Birthday" to Splendid, and partied. In the end, Blink, Link, Shifty and Lifty were all having a conversation about pranks and stealing. Muffin and Sniffles talked while eating cake the fox made. Samiee had fallen asleep and had his head resting on Flippy's shoulder, who didn't mind. Mirrors was telling Russell how she could sleep either standing up or sitting down in crisscross position but never lying down while Russell told her about how he lived in a large pirate ship stuck in a tree; both interested in each other's strange topics. Toothy was really digging into the cake, right now on his fourth slice. Sub Zero and Splendont were talking to each other about who the town members hated the most, and so far it was a tie between the two.

As for Stripes and Splendid, they were just lying on the couch, looking around. "It's really great that you would do this for me," Splendid said to her. "It was no big deal," Stripes said. "Take it as how I say 'I love you.'"

Splendid was taken back a bit. This was Stripes' first time saying those three words to him. And how three little words could make a big difference. He bent over and kissed her.

"I love you too…" Splendid said before falling asleep.

**Heh, hope you liked it. So, tell me what ya think. Even if you hated it, tell me. Geeze, this is a long one shot. 3000 words exactly. Review.**

**Muffin belongs to MuffinHTF**

**Samiee belongs to Flippy Face.**

**Stripes, Sub Zero, Mirrors, Blink, Link, belong to me.**

**Other Happy Tree Friends belong to Mondo Media.**


End file.
